Calls for increased sanctions, including those targeting individual members of the Syrian leadership, have done nothing to deter the government's quest to crush opposition activists through increasingly violent means. Al Jazeera reported this morning that president Bashar al-Assad has dispatched an elite tank unit to Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs, which opposition forces continue to hold out against he worst of the attacks. The "Fourth Division Monsters," as they call themselves, are commanded by al-Assad's brother.

There were also reports this morning that Paul Conroy and Edith Bouvier, two of the journalists injured in the attack that killed their colleagues Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik last week, had been safely smuggled out of the country and into Lebanon. However, other journalists on the ground say the reports are erroneous and based on bad information from a French diplomat in Damascus. Miles Amoore of the Sunday Times has urged Reuters and AFP to retract their stories, though other outlets, such as the Guardian, are standing by their stories for now. The journalists were believed to be hold up in the Baba Amr area, as previous attempts by the Red Cross to reach them had been futile. The Red Cross says that it continues to try to distribute supplies and evacuate the wounded from Homs, but has not confirmed any rescues.